Review Detail

The Mighty Miss Malone is one of those books you know the end is coming but don't want the story to end. I felt like I knew each of the Malones. Jimmie, 15 years old, is a good kid, not great kid, but that boy can sing. Deza is 12 and the smartest kid in and loves her teacher. A sad set of circumstances force Mother and Deza to move to Flint, Michigan. Here she is in school with black and white students. All the teachers are white and they will not give a grade better than a C to a black child, no matter how good the work is. Roscoe Malone, the dad, is desperately trying to find a job. It is after all The Great Depression of the 1930's and no jobs for Black men. Mother works for the bank presidents family the Carsdale's, cleaning their home. Mrs. Carsdale says that she is a pretty good worker and never caught her stealing, but "you know how those people are."
This is a page turner from start to finish as you follow the plights and perils of a poverty stricken Black Family,of the depression...eviction, riding the rails, predujice, no money for doctor's care so Desza soaks cotton in camphor to place in her cavities to ease the pain a bit, living in shanty towns, family separation...
Christopher Paul Curtis has done extensive research with this work of historical fiction. Be sure to read the afterward about the Joe Louis and Max Smellinbg fight that took place in Yankee Stadium.

Reading Level 4.7

Genre
Historical Fiction
Multicultural

Theme/Subject
Adolescent Issues
African American History
Great Depression
Family Life
Homelessness and Poverty